perhaps the easiest way to make Guotie or Potstickers: chinese panfried pork dumplings

By Gourmet_Traveller

Yesterday feeling a bit homesick and have made Guotie* (chinese version) or Gyoza* (Japanese version), a type of Jiaozi* (chinese dumpling).

The recipe I used is adapted from a cookbook I recently bought called ‘Harumi’s Japanese Cooking’. Harumi used prawns in her recipe which is not so common in Gyoza, maybe that’s why she called her version as Chinese Style Dumpling. It’s hard to say if this is pure Chinese version or Japanese version as it consists elements of both countries’ cooking styles. No need to debate on this point really, as long as they taste good, isn’t it?

This version, unlike the typical dumplings, is not sealed which makes it very easy to prepare. My hubby all of a sudden said they were like Chinese Tacos and I said that was a very good description. However, there is one small drawback of the opened mouth dumpling, since it is not sealed, the filling inside does not stick to the wonton wrapping very well, so you have to turn them carefully to keep it in one piece.

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• Makes 18 dumplings
• 200 g minced pork
• 100 g prawns (fresh or frozen)
• 18 round chinese dumplings skins (they are white in color, don’t mix up with wonton skins which are light yellow, another tip is to wrap the dumpling skins with a clean damp kitchen towel to avoid the
• 100 ml hot water
• a clean kitchen towel

Details

Adapted from janetching.wordpress.com

Preparation

Step 1

Marinade:

1 tbsp sake or chinese cooking rice wine (doesn’t matter which you use really as the alcohol will be evaporated when cooked)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
a few pitches of white pepper
1 tsp chicken stock powder
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of sunflower or vegetable oil
1 tbsp cornflour
50g finely chopped chinese chives (I used chinese chives flower this time, you can also subsitute with spring onion)
2 tbsp of grated fresh ginger
Dipping sauce:

2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp chinese dark vinegar
3 tsp of sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
some chopped fresh chili (optional)

Method:

Mix the ingredients for in a bowl, stir until the sugar is dissolved, leave aside.
Remove the shell and vein of the prawns if needed. Briefly mince the prawn so you can still see small pieces of them when mixed to the minced pork.
Marinate the minced pork, prawn and chinese chives together with the marinade above with ginger being added last. When this is done, the ingredients should stick together to a paste.
Using a spoon or chopsticks, put a spoonful amount minced meat onto a dumpling skin and then fold it into half. Repeat and put the folded ones onto a clean big plate. Cover with a clean damp kitchen towel to avoid from drying out.
You should have 2 plates of folded dumplings now.
You would need to cook in 2 batches.
Heat some cooking oil in a big flat pan, place the dumplings (in rows if possible) into the pan without sticking them together and turn to medium heat. Cook until they turn golden brown and crispy.
Turn them over to cook on the other side for a few minutes in the same way and then add in half of the hot water (50 ml) slowly, the water should be shallowed covering the bottom of the pan. Cover the lid of the pan immediately and let the dumplings steam for about 5 mins.
The water should almost be dried up by this time, remove the lid, shake the pan slightly to make sure the dumplings are not sticking to the pan. You can remove the dumplings from the heat when they become crispy again.
Serve immediately.


Suggestions:

You can eat the potstickers with noodle soup, ramen or green salad.
It’s best to cook the potstickers immediately shortly after wrapping. If you cannot finish them all in one go, you can keep the minced meat in the fridge and cook them the next day. The unused dumpling skins can also be kept in the fridge by wrapping wth a clean damp kitchen cloth and use the next day immediately.